What does the certifications malware do?

Package contains a reverse shell. Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers. Campaign: 2025-03-certifications Reasons (based on the campaign): - The package contains code to create a reverse shell, allowing an attacker to execute any commands on the victim's machine. The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'certifications' @ 999.999.999 (pypi) as malicious. It is considered malicious because: - The package communicates with a domain associated with malicious activity.

Which versions of certifications are malicious?

The following PyPI versions of certifications are flagged malicious: 999.999.999. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate certifications if I installed it?

certifications is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.

I already installed certifications — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If certifications was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.

Is certifications part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — certifications is associated with the 2025-03-certifications campaign. Packages in the same campaign often share infrastructure and payloads, so check whether any related packages are also in your dependency tree.

How do I find certifications across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for certifications (version 999.999.999).

Malicious package

certificationsPyPI

Advisory published Mar 5, 2025Updated Dec 12, 2025

certifications is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2025-2152) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 999.999.999). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in certifications (PyPI)

MAL-2025-2152

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

pip uninstall certifications

What this malware does

Package contains a reverse shell.

Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.

Campaign: 2025-03-certifications

Reasons (based on the campaign):

The package contains code to create a reverse shell, allowing an attacker to execute any commands on the victim's machine.

The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'certifications' @ 999.999.999 (pypi) as malicious.

It is considered malicious because:

The package communicates with a domain associated with malicious activity.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

999.999.999

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

0515ead14660dcbffe28456794b1f84f6a8416f72a81ede8833f475644c70afd

f057dff70b37ff4a7cf923a36404dd6aea73f24657f0ffc39aa6641f91d0a795

7d51c9defecdd382c5048eb6f92b32558355b8457b2b5cd63f3d86e12e8ed35b

35659660f35d67be862ea1f43a87c295826869dc31e4387717f43f6b46ab9669

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for certifications (version 999.999.999).
If you installed it — respond
certifications is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.
Did it already run?
If certifications was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.

Frequently asked questions

No. certifications on PyPI has been identified as a malicious package (version 999.999.999 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

2025-03-certifications

References

bad-packages.kam193.eu

Credits

Kamil Mańkowski (kam193)
OpenSSF: Package Analysis · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks certifications-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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